Jul 12, 2021
Ultraloop UVC comes to UNC Chapel Hill
Earlier this Spring, Ultraloop Technologies announced that they have partnered with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to bring their UVC sanitation technology to six different locations across the main campus. The company has been working with UNC’s Senior Vice Provost for Business Operations, Rick Wernoski, and his team to implement this pilot since late March, and is quickly approaching its launch date upon the arrival of students on campus this fall. The UVC sanitation devices will help the university — and, the community of Chapel Hill — transition to a cleaner, and safer space on campus as classes return to in-person this fall.
Aditya Bhatt, the CEO of Ultraloop and UNC-Chapel Hill student, had this to say when asked about what bringing this device to campus means to him:
“This pilot will be our way to get feedback from the campus community and improve our product as we expand to other campuses. We want to remain on campus and be ready for the next wave or variants without having to go remote!”
— Aditya Bhatt (Rising Junior at UNC, and Founder of Ultraloop Technologies, Inc.)
In early March, with the help of the Suford Program and their Director, Bernard Bell, Ultraloop was able to present their solution to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz (pictured below). With these devices, Ultraloop aims to build upon existing sanitation measures taken by Chapel Hill to further enhance the safety of the student’s and staff.
The chancellor’s support on Twitter will assist these devices to become more familiar as students, faculty, and staff adjust to using them this upcoming fall. Ultraloop aims to use this opportunity to spread awareness of their devices before they are seen in person throughout campus.
“It was an honor to meet and present Ultraloop to our Chancellor back in March. His support and enthusiasm paved the way for us to bring our device to UNC’s campus this fall.”
— Jared Porter
Bernard Bell, executive director of the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship, has mentored Ultraloop Technologies. He said he is impressed with the work ethic of Bhatt and Loganathan.
“I think working with them, they are more technical than many of our students,” Bell said. “They have an entrepreneurial maturity that is not typical for someone of their age. They are not tentative in their desire to move the ball down the field. As a result, they get things done, and then they come back to me and ask for what’s next.” — from the Daily Tar Heel
These devices will be fully installed on campus starting August 14th at the following locations:
- Carolina Student Union
- Davis Library (entry and exit)
- Hilton James Dormitory
- Gardner Lecture Hall
- Health Sciences Library
- Undergraduate Library’s Digital Media Center
Sanitation is as easy as placing your personal belongings into the Ultraloop and in 30 seconds, your items will be disinfected with UV-C rays that will eliminate 99.98% of germs. UV-C interferes with the DNA of bacteria and viruses in a way that makes them unable to reproduce and spread. This process helps cut down on the amount of chemical disinfectants and move UNC-Chapel Hill towards a greener future. The Ultraloop 2.0 has a robust 32-litre chamber that works wonders on items such as phones, wallets, keys, water bottles, laptops, textbooks, and even backpacks — while walking in and out of these buildings.
Ultraloop will be working closely with Chapel Hill to study the impact that these devices will have on campus by using its built-in IoT features that can track data usage, and they aim to reduce the transmission of infectious disease and pathogens to enable a safer and cleaner environment for students and staff.
Ultraloop will be collaborating with the school of medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill to test our UVC sanitizer in a wide variety of conditions to show how effective it is against infectious pathogens and improve its function. The company will be working together to research cutting-edge UVC technology that aims to make our device faster in sanitizing all the items and killing even the toughest of germs.
One of the directors of research at the UNC School of Medicine is guiding the Ultraloop team here at UNC and oversees a team of researchers studying epigenetics. Their support and vast experience in the biotechnology field will help the company’s research move at a quick pace and into devices for customers to use in no time.
The Ultraloop team is excited to bring their device to UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus this fall. Being students of the campus themselves, Ultraloop’s founders are excited to give back to the community by helping solve sanitation in a new, unique way.
